


like diamonds in the sky

by nostalgics



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, Ugh gay, i had to resist having zoë say ‘wow you didn’t turn me into a jackalope’
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 08:54:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20132749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nostalgics/pseuds/nostalgics
Summary: “Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson—Zoë in Greek, means life.





	like diamonds in the sky

**Author's Note:**

> (lyrics featured are from rihanna's diamonds)

_shine bright like a diamond_

The first time Artemis finds Zoë, is underneath the stars.

The stars were particularly bright that night, like individual diamonds glistening in the sky. It was one of those nights where everything just seemed so ethereal. And Zoë Nightshade was beautiful in a way that made her brighter than the stars themselves.

She sits there alone, at the base of an old olive tree. She’s crying, Artemis slowly realizes. She motions for her hunters to stay where they are; this is one of the few times the goddess does not want her companions by her side.

Artemis slowly steps toward the girl, who looks up at her startled. Even then, she is still poised. Regal, almost. She appeared young, but her eyes showed a pain no girl this young should ever experience. She looked like she was a goddess herself. After all, she was the daughter of a titan. Artemis immediately recognized her as a Hesperid—a goddess-nymph of the sunset.

And the Greeks believed in fate, and maybe it was fate that the goddess of the moon would fall in love with the sunset.

“Goddess Artemis,” the girl says carefully. It was a statement, not a question. She looks expectedly at Artemis, urging the goddess to approach her.

Artemis simply nods, and the girl rises to bow before the goddess. Something stirs inside her at the sight of Zoë kneeled at her feet.

“Goddess,” she says, her voice shaky, barely a whisper.

_find light in the beautiful sea_

Artemis extends a hand, allowing the young girl to rise. They stand face to face, barely inches apart. From this distance, the goddess can feel the girl’s hot breaths, and see the emotion in her eyes. They’re vast like deep seas and dark forests, filled with hurt, and pain, and a millennia’s worth of sadness.

The girl is much too young to look this way, Artemis thinks. She never wants the girl to look or feel this way again.

Voice low, Artemis asks “what is thy name?”

“Zoë,” the girl says. “Zoë Nightshade.”

And though it had only felt like minutes to Artemis, it is dawn when she returns to her hunters, Zoë by her side. The tired girls look wearily at Zoë, apprehensive and unknowing of her identity. One of them raises an eyebrow at the goddess, as if to ask a question. _Did she pledge?_

Artemis gives a small shake of her head before turning to Zoe cautiously.

“Would thou like to join the hunt? 

_I choose to be happy_

The bright stars from the previous night fading into the orange hues of the sunrise casts a pale light on Zoë, giving her a glow reminiscent of a halo. She kneels before the goddess again, and recites the pledge from heart, as if she was put here on this Earth to be by the goddess’ side.

“I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.”

Artemis lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “I accept thy pledge.”

And Zoë smiles for the first time.

_you and I, we’re like diamonds in the sky_

Over the years, Zoë grows closer with the goddess. A constant companion, as huntresses come and go. Some fall in battle, some fall for men. Zoë though, has always stayed. And over the years, Artemis can still count on one hand the number of times she has seen the young huntress smile.

Zoe’s smile is a rare sight. It appears in hesitant, fleeting moments. Moments shared in private between the girl and the goddess, and when the girl smiles, her eyes light up in a way that makes Artemis forget she’s a goddess. It becomes difficult, to remember such small things when she will live for eternity, but Artemis vows to herself to never forget the smile of this girl.

It wasn’t that Zoe was never happy, she just had other ways of showing it. Small touches, whispers of gratitude, and the trust she eventually gave the goddess. Smiles however, were rare. That just made them all the more special. All the more beautiful too, Artemis supposes.

The first time Artemis sees Zoë smile was of course when she pledged herself to the Hunt. A small smile. Happy, carefree, innocent. The girl’s cheeks were flushes, and her eyes bright and wild. A smile of delight after a lifetime of sorrow. 

The second time was a mere few days after that. Zoe was on her first hunt, and had just made her first kill.

The hunters were chasing after a wild boar. It was fast, and it was strong. The girls had all but given up when Zoe lets her first ever arrow fly.

For anyone else, it would have been an impossible shot. In fact, it would’ve been a hard shot for even the goddess Artemis herself. Yet Zoë hits it, right in the back of its neck. The hog stumbled a few more steps before collapsing on the ground.

The huntresses first look at each other, and then at Zoë.

“Good job, my brave one.” Artemis gives Zoë’s hand a quick squeeze, letting their intertwined hands linger.

Pleased with the praise, Zoë lets her mouth twitch up into a small smile. “Thank you, milady.” 

She traces a small star onto the back of Artemis’ hand with her thumb. It feels like a burn travelling up her arm and into her heart. A good type of burn. The type that would burn away everything else in this universe except herself and Zoë, and she would gladly let it.

The third time Artemis sees Zoe smile was a few years ago. The hunters were on the beach, off the coast of New York city. Like the night Zoe joined the hunters, the stars were unusually bright that night.

“Milady,” Zoe said, softly as not to wake the other girls who had already retreated to their tents. She and the goddess were the only ones remaining at the campfire.

Artemis looks at Zoë, who appeared almost golden underneath the glow of the crackling flames. “Yes, my brave one?”

Zoe holds the goddess’ gaze for a second, before looking up at the stars. “They’re bright tonight, aren’t they?”

The goddess looks up as well. “They are,” she agrees. “They’re almost as bright as the night I met you.”

“We’re kind of like stars ourselves, aren’t we?”

It’s a strange thing to say to the Goddess of the moon, but Artemis simply nods in agreement. “I suppose we are.”

Zoë smiles. “I’m glad.”

When Artemis sees that smile, she’s sure that no star could ever outshine Zoë Nightshade. And at that moment, she really, _really_, wants to kiss the girl. But she doesn’t. Instead, she smiles back. She smiles the biggest, most genuine smile she’s ever smiled, and the goddess’ hand finds Zoë’s on the hard ground between them.

_you’re a shooting star I see_

Years pass, then centuries. And though Zoë does not appear to change much—for immortality tends to do that to people—her eyes do. The scared and hurt eyes are replaced with ones that are calculating and experienced. Her eyes are the deepest of browns though still, they are bright and fiery. Eyes that somehow, manage to weaken the knees of a goddess.

She is afraid of loving Zoë. And though Zoë is the strongest, most loyal hunter she’s ever had, she knows that Zoë is still fragile. Mortal life is delicate, and there’s no way to prevent it from perishing. Artemis loves Zoë anyway.

So Artemis doesn’t stop herself one night, when they’re sitting too close together, and their faces are almost touching each other’s. Artemis doesn’t stop herself from resting her hand on the back of Zoë’s neck, and she doesn’t stop herself when Zoë leans in.

Their lips touch, and Artemis doesn’t stop herself from kissing the other girl.

_a vision of ecstasy_

Even though Zoë warms up to Artemis, she is still standoffish when it comes to the other hunters. Zoë doesn’t mention her past, but some of the girls know that she is the daughter of a titan. Some of the girls know, that Zoë was once a goddess like Artemis.

The girls don’t know that Artemis loves Zoë. No one does. Love is for mortals, and Artemis cannot afford to love a mortal.

The night Artemis gives Zoë the title of lieutenant, the girl finds herself outside the goddess’ tent. The tent is larger than the others, and the silver color glistens underneath the moonlight. She paces for a second, before the goddess emerges from her tent.

“Milady,” she says.

Artemis sees the stress and worry in the other girl’s eyes, and beckons her forward. “Walk with me?”

The two leave the camp where the other hunters rest in their tents. The forest is calm as the two walk silently, hands intertwined. with only the sound of dirt crunching underneath their boots disrupting it.

“Why did you make me your lieutenant?” Zoë finally asks.

It’s true, that in the years the goddess led the hunt, she was the sole leader. Until now, she hasn’t ever had a lieutenant. Until now, she has never had Zoë Nightshade by her side.

But a lieutenant implies a partnership, and Artemis pauses. She doesn’t say “because I love you.”

“Because I believe in you, my brave one,” and that is enough.

The two stop at the base of a tree. The goddess slowly traces along the constellations of freckles on Zoë’s face, illuminated perfectly by the moonlight filtering through the leaves.

Artemis kisses her, and she doesn’t need to say it for Zoë to know she loves her.

They kiss, and their hands wander, and there’s a sheen of sweat on Zoë’s pleasured face that glistens in the starlight. And in all the millennia she’s lived, Artemis thinks it’s the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen.

_when you hold me, I’m alive_

There is a prophecy. Artemis knows Zoë dies.

She tries stopping it. She’s begged the Gods, and bargained with the Fates. She goes through all five stages of grief centuries before the prophecy is even spoken.

Artemis could save Zoë. She’s a goddess, after all. It would be selfish, but she could. The Gods are selfish. Artemis does not want to be a God.

She doesn’t save Zoë.

It’s cynical. Like the fates are mocking her with Zoë’s death. Because the very person named life has lost hers, and for the first time, eternity feels too long.

Zoë is days laughing in the meadows, and nights by campfires in the woods. Zoë is arms brushing when they walk, and knees knocking together when they sit. Zoë is sweet kisses and soft lips. Zoë is wise eyes and experienced hands. Zoë is the waves in the ocean and the stars in the sky. Zoë is one of the few things that make eternity worthwhile. 

So Artemis doesn’t save Zoë. She doesn’t want to be a God. 

She turns Zoë into a constellation. She turns Zoë into one of the stars she loved so much. The stars that will exist for eternity. Stars that will exist long past the Gods’ rule. And perhaps one day, Artemis will be able to join her.

_we’re like diamonds in the sky_

Slowly, over millennia, Artemis begins to forget Zoë. It’s the small things at first. The lilt in Zoë’s voice isn’t the clearest sound in her mind anymore. Those deep brown eyes are no longer the only thing Artemis sees when she closes her own. The goddess can no longer recall the sound of her laughter, or the scent of berries lingering on her breath as they kiss.

Artemis slowly begins to forget the only things worth remembering. She thinks she’s the one who should be worshipping Zoë. Not the other way around.

**Author's Note:**

> I was going through my google docs and found this piece from 2016 I never finished. I cleaned up what I had to make it a coherent story, and this is it.
> 
> If you want to talk to me about zartemis you can find me on tumblr @zartemis or my main blog
> 
> tumblr @nostalgics


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